"Too Specific" should never be a reason to close a question.
'Long-tail' questions may be hard to answer, but they will drive traffic to our site since we are a resource better-equipped to allow people to find (and answer) that type of question. Closing it to eliminate that possibility is a very bad thing.
The medical aspect is definitely something different. Like legal questions, I think we need to judge whether or not you need to be a doctor to answer.
My personal feeling is that this current question as-is doesn't fall in that category. Beth provided a great answer that answers the question without having to go in to medical details. It outlines:
- Why the companies have medical restrictions
- What sorts of conditions may fall under those restrictions
- That we aren't in a position to judge whether or not this specific case is okay or not
The first two points are perfectly on topic for this site, just like a question asking about what sorts of things may come up in a background check to block employment. What we want to avoid is questions that ask about the third point alone.
Good:
- "When applying for a job working in the public sector, what types of information in a background check can block employment?"
- "When applying for conscientious objector status in the military, what criteria is used to determine whether the request is legitimate?"
Bad:
- "I have a misdemeanor conviction for passing a bad check. Will this show up on my background check and bar me from working in a law office?"
- "I have an incredibly rare mental disorder called kuchigeri, will that be covered under my employer's health insurance?"
For this question, I would just rephrase it. Currently:
Do you know of any specific medical conditions that may prevent someone from getting a job on a cruise ship? i did my medical and my SGPT/ALT blood test result was slightly elevated and i am a bit worried that it may prevent me from getting the job
Proposed revision:
I am applying for a job on a cruise ship and was asked to take a medical exam as a condition of employment. What sorts of information that comes up on a medical exam would prevent the cruise company from hiring me?
Since the question is locked I can't make the revision, but I think that question would be perfectly reasonable for this site.
In the comments, Chad says:
I think this question should probably stay closed because the important part is the test results that potentially indicate liver damage. Removing that context changes the question and is unlikely to get the answer the OP wants.
We have two choices:
- Leave the question closed and have it be useless to everyone
- Edit the question to be answerable and provide limited help to the person who asked
The latter is preferable because someone else with a similar question could be helped by the limited answer, while a closed question with no answer won't help anyone.
Our goal is to build a resource for future visitors, not just answer whatever narrow question someone is asking about today. Sometimes that means we make an aggressive edit that allows the question to get answers even though it is a different question from what is originally asked.
Closing should be a last resort for questions that can't be salvaged or aren't a good fit for our format, not something we move to first just because we can't answer the person's question as-is. As a community we should be improving posts, not just acting as a panel of judges to decide their fate.
